Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all. I want to say thank you to all of my subscribers for visiting with me this year. Somehow I managed to hit 200 followers this month and am so grateful to each and every one of you for your interest and comments. It adds something special for me as I post throughout the year.

The latest commission went out in the mail yesterday. I don’t often do a picture quite that quickly, but I wanted to make sure it had time to get to its destination. I had a request for a pet portrait for Christmas over the weekend, but I decided to decline. I could have done it in time, but I would have been betting with the postal gods to get it there. I don’t need the angst.

When I look at this one and the last one, they are so similar that at a brief glance, you might think they were the same. Front porch, dark shutters, garage on the left, red brick, big front lawn. This one was a little bit more of a challenge because of the smaller portrait size. It was harder to get the detail in, so she got a slightly bigger size for free. I just didn’t want to compromise by making the building smaller to fit a 10×8 size. I ended up widening it to about 12×8 and was much happier with the effect.

She wanted to include the maple tree in on the left and I decided that would help the edges of the house. The landscaping is mature, so that was easier. I sketched the dog in on the lower right. She knew he would be small given the scale of the building, but she felt his inclusion would add to the overall impact for the recipients. I was happy to comply.

Well, I didn’t have to wonder what to do next very long. On Wednesday, I e-mailed back and forth with a client and after a couple of hours she purchased a portrait listing from my etsy shop. I guess it was the right place at the right time.

It will be a little bit of a challenge. The house is almost as large as the last one, but she only wanted an 8×10. As an interesting little aside, she wants the owners’ dog on the lawn. I told her he would be rather small given the scale of the house, but she was fine with that. He was old and she thought it would be nice to have a memory of him on the lawn as well as the house.

I have ended up widening the picture some, so it is more like an 8×12. I just couldn’t go any smaller and still be able to work with it. As it is, I am using some watercolors to do the tight spaces between the upper deck railings and next to the door side lites. The pastels sticks are just too thick easily in the narrow areas. The landscaping is quite colorful and should be fun to fill in.

The picture went out on Monday. I used mostly the pastels for the color, but did some fine work with the colored pencils. There is so much detail crammed into the space, that I needed to edge some areas with the pencils to neaten them up. The finished drawing is a bit browner and less red for the bricks in the photo, but all in all, it turned out fine. Since it is a newer home, I enlarged the greenery and added some flowers. I almost forgot to put in the wicker bench and side table on the porch but luckily noticed it before it was too late. There were also some wreaths on the doors which added a bit of color under there

The buyer is happy it is getting out so soon because he might be able to get it framed in time for Christmas. Now I’m back to deciding what my next project will be.

I spent two days inking this large house up. It is a good thing it is a 14″x9″ portrait. There is so much going on, if it were any smaller, a lot of detail would have been lost. As it is the windows and shutters are just big enough to color with the pastels. I enlarged the landscaping and added flowers after discussing it with the owner. I wish there were some trees planted in the front yard, but I’ll have to make do with the row on the back property line.

The coloring has gone quickly and I still hope to have it in the mail tomorrow. Maybe he still can get it framed up in time for Christmas.

I got started on the next Christmas commission on Monday. Here is the preliminary pencil sketch. The drawing is more complicated than it might seem. There are plenty of turned gables and hip roof lines to go around, as well as mullioned windows and brick accents. Also, it is an attractive house, but only has the starts of its landscaping. The shrubs and trees are small yet, so I have made them more mature.

I have started the inking and hope to be done with it tomorrow. Still on schedule to get it out on Monday.

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